


Story Corps:  “The Whole Neighborhood Panicked”

by Ellidfics



Series: Captain Fraudulent:  The Outtakes [45]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Depression, M/M, Orson Welles - Freeform, WPA, War of the Worlds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:25:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellidfics/pseuds/Ellidfics
Summary: "StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world."We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, we are creating an invaluable archive for future generations."FromStory Corps Website





	Story Corps:  “The Whole Neighborhood Panicked”

New Yorker Arnie Roth was born on the Lower East Side just as America entered combat in World War I. He lived there until he was drafted in 1942 before moving uptown and becoming an early pioneer in what became the computer industry. He later became a gay rights activist and was instrumental in lobbying his employer, Stark Industries, to invest in AIDS treatment research. 

Now retired, he is working on a memoir about his early life, particularly his boyhood friendship with legendary commando leader Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America. At StoryCorps, he tells his partner, Michael Beck, about a night his old buddy visited in 1938.

 

Michael Beck: Guess you kept in touch after he moved to Brooklyn?

Arnie Roth: It wasn't easy but my mother made sure of it. She'd have adopted him after his mother died if he hadn't been Catholic, we were that close.

MB: So he came for Sunday dinner?

AR: Yeah, Mom invited him. She was always trying to feed him up since he was so small, especially when he was between jobs. We had brisket that day so he had seconds, plus an extra piece of her apple cake. Normally she saved that for the High Holy Days, but when I told her Steve was coming she made one special. He really loved that cake!

MB: I don't blame him, so do I.

(they laugh)

MB: So what happened that night?

AR: Well. We were cleaning up after dinner when my father turned on the radio. I wanted to listen to Charlie McCarthy – remember him? - but then Stevie piped up that Mercury Theater was on and he'd heard it was going to be an adaptation of The War of the Worlds. He knew some of the actors, you know, from the WPA.

MB: What did your parents say?

AR: My father was disappointed since he didn't hold with “that highbrow stuff, “ but Mama said one night of culture wouldn't hurt us. So we turned on Mercury Theater while we dried the dishes and started to listen. 

MB: So you knew the Martian invasion was fake.

AR: Oh yeah, no question. Dad walked out of the room long enough that he had to aske what was going on when he came back, but Mama told him to shush, she was listening to the radio, and that was the end of that. 

MB: Had any of you read the book?

AR: My folks hadn't, but Stevie and me, yeah. He'd borrowed it from the library and made me read it a couple years earlier. He used to read on the subway, you know, especially after the WPA assigned him to that place in Harlem. He told me having a book to read passed the time since it was such a long commute from Brooklyn.

MB: What did you think of the show?

AR: It was good. I'm not sure my father understood – he wasn't much for reading – but the rest of us liked it just fine. Mama even wanted to know more about Ramon Raquello and his orchestra. She loved to dance, you know.

MB: I remember. So what happened next?

AR: Well, the first sign that something was wrong was hearing someone crying in the hallway. At first I thought it was the Steinbergs' new baby, but after a second I realized it was an adult. So I went over to the door to see what was going on, and of course Steve tagged along. I stuck my head out and it was Sylvia Rogow from 12b, screaming something about the Martians coming to kill us all.

That's when Steve tried to tell her it was just a radio show, and she yelled “Yeah, that's where I heard it!” and started crying. Steve looked bewildered and said no, it was just a play, it was all right, and she let out this wail about her sister over in the Village. Alice was in school, you see, going to NYU on a scholarship, and if there really had been Martians she would have been toast.

MB: Don't tell me, she was listening to Charlie McCarthy first.

AR: Yep. She wasn't the only one in our building, either. Mr. Steinmetz from down the hall came running out in his old Army uniform, waving a Springfield rifle and yelling about how he'd killed the Boche and he'd kill the Martians, too, and there was banging and shouting all up and down the stairwell. Steve and my parents and I did our best, but it was chaos.

MB: Wow. My folks and I were visiting friends that night so we didn't hear about the panic till the next morning. It sounds pretty crazy.

AR: It was! Mrs. McPherson knelt down and started saying the rosary, right there in the middle of the hall, the super came charging up the stairs yelling at everyone to shut up, his kid was teething and didn't like the noise, someone with a phone called the cops – it was crazy. 

Then Mr. Steinmetz turned around just as Steve was trying to get to Rosie Weiss, and of course his rifle butt got him right in the nose. So then there was blood everywhere - 

MB: He broke his nose?

AR: Oh yeah. Mr. Steinmetz felt awful after the police came and realized what he'd done He insisted on loaning Stevie a clean shirt and made him an ice pack while Mrs. Steinmetz got the bloodstains out of his tie. 

Mama managed to set it – she'd been a nurse, you know - but Stevie always had a bump on his nose after that. Even when he was Captain America. He wasn't happy about that since whatever they did to him healed everything else, but I told him it added character. I don't think he believed me, but it wasn't like he had money for a real doctor back then.

MB: Well, not many people did.

AR: You got that right. Why do you think Mrs. Steinmetz worked so hard to get the blood out of Stevie's shirt? 

You know the best part? Stevie was still doing some work for the Federal Theater Project back then, and he had a meeting with Orson Welles later that week about the set designs for something they were doing in 1939. He still looked awful -

MB: I can just imagine. 

AR: - so Welles asked what had happened. Steve told him, and next thing he knows Welles is taking him out to lunch, busted nose and all, and apologizing up and down. I think Steve was the only person he knew who actually got hurt during the panic.

MB: One of my buddies swore he spent the whole night in the Algonquin getting loaded. He should have sent Orson Welles the bar bill!

[they laugh]

[closing music plays]

[end broadcast]

**Author's Note:**

> Story Corps is a regular Friday morning feature of Morning Edition, NPR's newscast. It involves family members or friends interviewing each other to preserve their stories for the future.
> 
> "The Night That Panicked America" happened on October 30th, 1938, when Orson Welles' Mercury Theater of the Air broadcast an adaptation of H.G. Wells' _War of the Worlds_ that was so realistic and so much like a real radio show that many people who tuned in late were convinced that Martians had invaded New Jersey.


End file.
